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Tag: Pat Travers

Yngwie Malmsteen – Perpetual FlameRising Force RecordsEveryone’s favourite fury-unleashing, donut-disdaining, Strat-twirling Swedish shred god is back with Perpetual Flame, the first release on his own Rising Force Records. This one features former Iced Earth/Judas Priest singer Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens.

Pat Travers – Radio Active,Black Pearl,Hot ShotLemon RecordsUnbelievably, these classic Pat Travers albums from 1981, 1982 and 1984, respectively, arrive on CD for the first time in 2008. Come for the phrasing, stay for the flanging. These albums are from the period described as Travers’s commercial peak.

Tommy Emmanuel – Center Stage DVDMel BayCome for the Beatles medley, stay for ‘Initiation,’ but maybe dip out for a wee when Tommy plays ‘I Go To Rio.’ The sound and video quality of this release are outstanding, with lots of close-ups of Tommy’s impeccable technique, which is great news for Tommy fans but quite heartbreaking for Maton guitar fans, as Tommy wails and wallops his beloved acoustic to within an inch of its life, then wallops it a few more inches for good measure.

Faxed Head – From Coalinga to OsakaMimicryOkay, this freaks me out because on the way to work this morning I was listening to Mr Bungle’s ‘Disco Volante’ and I thought “I wonder if Trey Spruance is releasing anything soon.” Then I log on and find this. Yet another brilliant side project from the Mr Bungle/Faith No More/Secret Chiefs 3 guitarist.

Joe Satriani – Surfing With The Alien (Vinyl)Sony LegacyIf you’re a guitarist and you don’t have this album, there’s probably something wrong with ya – there, I said it. Sony Legacy rereleases this noodle-filled classic on vinyl to coincide with Satch’s current US tour. Read my recent Joe Satriani interview here.

Those of us with a fondness for the, let’s just say, larger-haired corners of the rock guitar world will be excited to know that the long missing-in-action company ADA (Analog/Digital Associates) is on the way back after about a decade or so of inactivity.ADA’s famous midi-controllable tube preamp, the MP-1, was used on a lot of recordings around the late 80s/early 90s, especially paired with the power section of a Marshall JCM800 or JCM 900 head. Notable MP-1 users included Steve Vai, Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt, White Lion’s Vito Bratta, and Paul Gilbert. On the bass side, Primus’s Les Claypool used a modified MP-1, while Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey used the dedicated bass version, the MB-1. To this day, Gilbert uses a modified ADA flanger tweaked to create a whammy-like divebomb effect, and other notable flanger users include Pat Travers and Testament’s Alex Skolnick.

The new website is at www.adaamps.com and it shows the classic Final Phase and Flanger pedals, so we can assume these will be among the first products to be reissued. Could a reissued MP-1 be on the horizon?

We’re in the storming and forming phase and usually send out a canned response, but your questions are intriguing and deserve an answer.

David Tarnowski, head engineer and inventor of all things A/DA, continues to be majority owner of A/DA and chief engineer of the new A/DA. He still owns all rights to the A/DA electronic designs and trademark. A group of us have convinced him that the time is right to come out of retirement and resurrect the A/DA legacy. We’re starting with stomp boxes, most notably the Flanger and Final Phase, which will be re-released in late 2008/2009. We’ll continue soon thereafter with other legacy effects such as Battman and the Seamoon line, as well as the Rocket Amp series. We’re currently working with suppliers to source original parts so that these releases can be as “original” as possible – we’ve gone over the designs and have decided that the original designs were best. We’re in the early stages, but are confident that we’ll have a full line of products to present at NAMM 2009.

Of particular interest to the ADAForum board would be our introduction of the all new MP3. Still on the drawing board, the digital potential is enormous and we’re still hashing out potential functionality prior to full design. As you well know, the fight starts trying to decide what goes into a future MPx and doesn’t stop until the prototype has been demo’d and agreed upon by all. As of now, there is no release date for the MP3.

We appreciate your interest and would ask that you help pass the word that the original A/DA is back!!

I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old. I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week), a setup tech, a newspaper editor, and I've dabbled in radio a little bit. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and my hobbies include drinking way too much coffee, and eating way too much Mexican food.

You can check out my guitar playing at Bandcamp or on YouTube, check out the I Heart Guitar podcast and feel free to email me at peter@iheartguitarblog.com - oh and unsolicited SEO service emails will be printed out just so I can have the tactile pleasure of having something to scrunch up and throw in the trash.